


The Promised are Bound, Mr Gonzalez

by Levis_turtles



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-23
Updated: 2017-01-29
Packaged: 2018-09-19 08:14:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9429410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Levis_turtles/pseuds/Levis_turtles
Summary: Lance makes a promise to Lotor, not realising that the promises made between Galra (or, in this case, Galra and Human) are as inescapable as they are binding.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> so, i've never written lancelot before, so please let me know if i'm doing it wrong. hopefully this is okay, though, and i hope you enjoy :D

Lance knew he shouldn’t be doing this – he knew that the others would hate him, if they ever found out. He knew that most of them hated the Galra, or at least disliked them. Sometimes, when he was lying awake at night, thinking about some day being able to curl up in his warm arms, Lance thought about how they would react. He visualised the look of betrayal that would cross Hunk and Pidge’s faces, the looks of disgust and anger from Allura and Keith, the look of disappointment from Shiro and Coran.

Some days, Lance thought it would be better for everyone if he ended it all, before it got too far. Other days, he thought that he was kidding himself, that it had passed ‘too far’ months ago. Most days, he didn’t give a shit how far past ‘too far’ they had come – he wanted to go further, and no Paladins or Princesses or whatever Coran was supposed to be were going to stop him.

But none of that mattered when Lance was with him. Every dark thought left him, melting away and leaving nothing but a warm glow in its place.

Lotor was beautiful – Lance couldn’t deny that. Not that he would want to – Lance had never been one to ignore a pretty face. Lotor smiled when Lance drew near, and before he could say anything, Lance took Lotor’s face between his hands and kissed him, hard.

“I missed you,” Lance said, when they finally pulled apart. Their breaths came short and sharp, the thrill of it all sucking the air right out of them. Lance loved the way that Lotor reacted when he said mushy things – his face turning a dark shade of purple, his yellow eyes darting around the room to focus on anything but Lance.

“We saw each other yesterday,” Lotor said, as if logic could save him.

Lance shrugged, tracing the outline of Lotor’s jaw, of his nose, of his lips. “Still missed you.” He caught the Prince’s chin between his forefinger and thumb, and pulled him down for another kiss, this one slow and soft.

“This is becoming a bad habit,” Lotor said, putting his hands on Lance’s shoulders to push him away. “You are no good for me.”

“You’d be surprised how often I hear that,” Lance said.

“My men will grow suspicious, as will yours.” Lotor was frowning, but he didn’t look upset – more contemplative, really. “I have attacked your ship three times in as many days – Haggar is already beginning to wonder how I always seem to know where you are.”

Lance pouted, “So, what do you want to do? It’s not like we can tell anyone.” Lotor’s face grew strange, crumpling slightly at the edges, and Lance groaned. “We can’t tell people about-” he waved his hand between them, “-whatever this is.”

“Why not?”

“Well, for one, my friend’s would probably kill me. And they’d _definitely_ kill you.” Lance tucked a piece of white hair behind Lotor’s ear. “Look, we can slow down if you want, see each other once a week or,” he took a deep breath, “once a month, if we have to.”

Lotor shook his head, “I don’t want to do that.”

“Then what do you want?” Lance was getting frustrated – he knew Lotor was right, knew that his friends would have to find out some time; he just hadn’t thought it would be so soon.

Lotor had grown quiet. Lance looked at him, waiting for what, he didn’t know. After a moment, Lotor began to move. He took a step closer to Lance, pushing him against the wall of the ship. His hands moved to curl around Lance’s hips, pulling them closer than they had ever been.

“What I want,” Lotor said, voice deep and smooth, “is for every last one of them to know that you are mine.”

Lance moaned, arching his neck as Lotor kissed the corner of his jaw, tongue sweeping over his skin as he bit little marks along the column of Lance’s neck. Lance dug his fingers into Lotor’s back, trying to pull him closer – there were already as close as they could get.

“They wouldn’t like it,” Lance said, breathless as Lotor’s hand moved over his stomach, dipping under his shirt and up to his chest. “I don't know if telling them right now is-” he gasped as Lotor’s hand dipped under the waistband of his pants, skin skimming skin.

“Is what?” Lotor practically purred, killing a trail from Lance’s collar bone to his chin, wet lips sliding easily over Lance’s skin.

“I honestly have no idea,” Lance sighed out. “Thinking isn’t really an option, right now.”

Lotor smirked – he didn’t get like this very often; he was usually too embarrassed to do much more than follow Lance’s lead. But sometimes, if Lance could get him frustrated or annoyed, something inside the Galra snapped, and some other side of Lotor stepped out of the dark.

“We won’t tell them yet,” Lotor said, lips brushing Lance’s as he spoke. “But they will find out, soon.” His hand between Lance’s legs stopped, and that was just _no_. “Promise me,” Lotor said.

Slowly, and with reluctant agreement, Lance nodded. “I promise.”


	2. Chapter 2

Warmth enveloped him.

Lotor’s chest warmed one side of his face; Lotor’s hands drew shapes over his bare back, sending warm shivers up and down his spine; Lotor’s legs were tangled with his own, warming everything but the tips of his toes. Lance sighed, pulling himself closer to the warmth, letting it wash gloriously over him.

He arched his neck, smiling contentedly at Lotor, just to watch him blush. He pressed a kiss to the underside of Lotor’s chin, and felt it against his lips when Lotor hummed, happily.

“Hi,” Lance said.

Lotor’s arms tightened around him, pulling Lance up to kiss his mouth, angling Lance’s chin for him to delve in deeper.

“I wanted to thank you,” Lotor said, pulling away; his voice rumbled, husky and low in post-coital bliss.

“What for?” Lance hummed, doting kisses along Lotor’s jaw.

“Promising to tell your friends about me,” Lotor said, running his fingers through the hairs at the nape of Lance’s neck. “I know it’s a big risk for you.

“It’s not that bad,” Lance said, sucking a mark into Lotor’s neck. “I’ll tell them, I told you I’d tell them. I guess I just have to wait for the right time.” 

“But you promised.”

Lance frowned. He leaned back, propping himself up on his elbow to look down at Lotor. “Why did you say it like that?”

“Like what?”

“Like,” Lance cleared his throat, deepening his voice to imitate Lotor’s, “ _promising to tell you friends_.”

“I was just trying to emphasise that not a lot of people would have made a promise like that.”

“You did it again,” Lance said, frown deepening. He didn’t know why he was getting such an uneasy feeling about this. “A _promise_.” 

“Well, it’s not something to be taken lightly,” Lotor said.

“It’s a promise, Lo- Do you and me have the definitions of ‘promise’ mixed up or something?”

“How could that happen,” Lotor asked, sounding sceptical. “What do you think it is?”

“I dunno, like- an agreement? Like, you say you’re gonna do something, so you do it.”

Lotor was quiet for a moment. Then, “Oh.”

“Oh?”

Lotor was shaking his head, a look on his face that was somewhere between bewildered and amused. “That is not what a promise is.”

Lance sat up, further separating himself from Lotor’s warmth. “So, what is it?”

“The dictionary definition would be an assurance by the universe, through the vessels of men, that a certain event will come to pass.”

“And in English, that means…?”

“You promised me that the paladins would find out about us, and the universe will make sure that they do.”

Lance’s mouth ran dry. “Well,” he said, “that’s not good.”

Lotor opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off when something buzzed across the room. Lance jumped when Shiro’s voice spoke through the helmet, fuzzy and concerned. “Lance? Are you okay?" 

Lance frowned, “I thought I’d turned that off.”

“Told you,” Lotor hummed. “The universe doesn’t mess around.”

“What was that?” Shiro asked. “Lance, tell me you’re okay. Who was that?” 

Lance scrambled towards his helmet, lifting the mouthpiece close enough to his face that Shiro might believe he was still wearing his suit. “Nothing’s wrong,” Lance said. “I’ve got everything under control.”

“Are you sure? Who’s voice was that?”

“You should probably tell him,” said Lotor.

Lance swatted him away. “It was no one. Some Galra walked past – that’s why I said ‘that’s not good’. I hid, though. I don’t think they saw me.”

Lotor smirked, “I’m pretty sure they saw plenty of you.”

“Was that-?” Lance could hear Shiro’s frown. “Was that Lotor?”

Lance squeaked. “Oh- um- yeah! It was Lotor! He was with the group of Galra that walked past me.”

“Lance, where are you?”

“Still on the second deck. I ran into some trouble; I only just got myself out of it.” Lotor was laughing at him; Lance flipped him the bird. “How are the four of you?” 

“We’re fine,” Shiro said. “The Galra are attacking us, but-” 

“But?” 

“They’re not doing anything. None of us are taking any damage – it’s almost as if they don’t want to hurt us."

Lance glanced at Lotor, “Weird.”

“So, do you want some help?” Shiro asked. “I can send Keith over, if-”

“No!” Lane snapped, far too quickly to come across as anything but suspicious. “I mean, no, thank you. Two people will draw too much attention. It’s better if it’s just me.”

“Wow.” Shiro sounded surprised. “That’s actually pretty smart.”

“Well, there’s no need to sound so shocked,” Lance huffed. “I can be smart.”

“I know that,” Shiro said. “But be sure to call us if you need any help. The line went dead for a while there – Lotor’s ship must be interfering with our communications.” 

“Yeah, that must be it,” Lance tried to sound thoughtful. “Anyway, I should probably get going, before anyone realises I’m here. I’ll be out in a tick.”

“Be careful.”

“Well, they don’t call me ‘The Seatbelt’ for nothing.”

“No one calls you that,” Pidge’s sharp voice cracked through the communicator. “No one calls you anything. You don’t have a nickname.” 

Lance pouted, but before he could say anything, Lotor was on him.

“Shit!”

Four voices chimed in at once, “Lance?”

Lotor’s mouth was on Lance’s neck, a savage attack of teeth and tongue. Rough lips grazed skin still sensitive from that last time. Lance let out a soft groan, enjoying himself too much to even consider pushing Lotor away. 

“That’s it,” Shiro said, obviously mistaking what he had heard for a sign of pain, “I’m sending in backup. Keith, how fast can you get there?” 

“Red just touched down on the ship,” came Keith’s uniform reply. “Lance, I’ll be with you in five.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay, first of all! thank you so much for all you lovely comments, i'm so glad you like this story :D i love all of you, and i hope you enjoy the rest of the story 
> 
> second - i know there's a lot of controversy about Lance's second name, so if anyone here knows any Cuban surnames to put into the title, please let me know and i'll consider changing it


	3. Chapter 3

“Shit!”

Lance was hopping on one leg, trying to yank his trousers up while simultaneously stuffing his arms into his shirt. He had wasted one of his five minutes on staring blankly at the ceiling, trying to calculate _exactly_ how fucked he was about to become. 

“Shit!”

He had spent another of those minutes trying to convince Lotor to stop biting and get off him so he could get dressed.

Suffice to say, Lotor wasn’t as worried about all of this as Lance appeared to be. “What are even saying?” He asked, lazily, from the floor.

“Quiznak!”

Lance had three minutes to assemble his suit and come up with a decent excuse for why he was standing in a hallway with the half-naked Prince of Doom.

“You need to get dressed,” Lance said. “And you need to do it now.”

“Why?” Lotor leaned back on his elbows, naked torso stretching tantalisingly as he levelled Lance with a provocative smirk. “When I’m obviously so much more enjoyable like this.”

Lance threw a breastplate at him. “Just get dressed already. When Keith gets here, we need to look like we’ve just crawled our way out of a fight.”

“You already look like you just crawled out of a fight,” Lotor said, still smirking. “I mean, look at all those bruises.” 

Lance slapped a hand against his neck. “These are hickeys,” Lance hissed, “and I’m fairly sure Keith’s going to know that.”

“Keith,” Lotor mused aloud, taking his breastplate and – to Lance’s relief – pulling it over his ludicrously bare chest. “You’ve mentioned him before. Is he the one with the scar?”

“No, that’s Shiro,” Lance said, pulling on a boot. “Keith is the red one. Pretty brave, really reckless. Bit of an anger problem, though.”

“He’s the one you were in love with,” Lotor said.

Lance choked. “I wasn’t in love with him! I just liked him. A lot.” Lotor raised an eyebrow, and Lance blushed. “Anyway, that doesn't matter now, because I have something much better.” 

“Oh, yeah?” Lotor took a slow step forwards, his hands sliding easily around Lance’s waist. “And what might-” 

Lance heard footsteps thundering up the hall.

He slapped a hand over Lotor’s mouth. “I am so sorry about this,” he said, and Lotor had but a moment to look confused before Lance was punching him in the face. Keith rounded the corner just as Lotor crashed to the ground, and Lance met his expectant look with a confident smile. “It’s about time you got here.”

Keith’s eyes slid down to Lotor before returning to Lance, “It looks like you’ve got this under control.”

“Yeah, well, you know,” Lance shrugged. “I’m wasn’t chosen by bl- _ah_!” Lance screamed as Lotor swept his legs out from under him. He hit the ground with a crack, and Lotor snorted.

“Gotta keep things realistic, right?”

Lance glared at Lotor, and when the Galra only shrugged, Lance let a grin slip over his face. Lotor looked concerned for a second, which only made Lance’s smile grow – he revelled in the Galra’s shocked gasp when he threw himself over him.

Lance’s knees gripped Lotor’s hips, keeping him from rolling to the side, and his hands pinned the prince’s shoulder’s to the ground. “Keith,” Lance yelled, smirking down at the blush spreading over the Galra’s cheeks. “Get me something to tie him up with.”

Keith did as he was told, and a moment later, Lotor was slumped against the ground, hands tied behind his back.

“So, what should we do with him?” Keith asked, nudging Lotor’s knee with his boot. 

“Let’s just leave him here,” Lance said. 

“What if he breaks out?”

“ _How_ would he break out?”

“I don’t know,” Keith snapped. “I’m taking precautions.”

“Precaution schmecaution,” Lance looked at the rope around Lotor’s wrists – he used to be a boy-scout, he knew how to tie a knot. “He’s not going anywhere.”

A buzz sounded next to Lance’s ear, and a second later, Hunk’s voice was asking, “What are you two arguing about now?” Hunk always sounded amused every time he caught Keith and Lance bickering – he thought it was flirting and, in some ways, Lance supposed it was.

“We don’t know what to do with Prince Lotor,” Keith said, giving Lance an odd look – Lance didn’t usually pass up an opportunity to speak up about what he was doing.

“Is he restrained?” Shiro asked.

Lance nodded, before he realised that no one cold see him, and he was an idiot. “He’s tied up,” Lance said.

“Bring him with you,” Shiro said. 

Lance frowned; Keith said, “Why?”

“He might know some things,” Shiro said.

“Oh, I know lots of things,” Lotor said, smirking up at Lance. “Interesting th- _ow_!”

Keith had kicked his shin. “Be quiet." 

Lotor grinned, “Yes, sir.”

Lance sighed – it was just like Keith not to wonder why Lotor hadn’t yet screamed for help. Surely, when one was being held captive aboard their own ship, the first thing they would think to do was to call for help. Honestly, sometimes Lance wasn’t sure what he saw in Keith at all. 

Apparently, Shiro and Keith had continued with their conversation as Lance had been zoned out, and it was only when he noticed Keith’s expectant look that Lance said, “I’m sorry, what?”

Shiro sighed. “Keep your head in the game, Lance. We thought it would be best for you and Keith to abandon your mission aboard the ship, and bring Lotor back to us. What do you think?”

“Uhhh.”

“Great,” Shiro said. “See you in ten.” The communicator crackled, and then Shiro was gone.

Lance sighed – this was not good. Stupid universe.

“So,” Keith said, dropping to his knees and rolling Lotor on to his side. “Who’s gonna carry him?” 

Lotor’s head snapped up. “May I make a request for that one,” he asked, inclining his head towards Lance.

Lance’s face had the audacity to grow warm – thankfully, Keith didn’t notice – thank quiznak for his helmet’s tinted visor. “It’s up to you,” Keith said, when Lance said nothing. “Though, you do have broader shoulders than me, so it would probably be easier for you to do it.”

“Fine,” Lance said, playing it off as cool as he could. “Can’t argue with that, I guess.” 

Keith frowned, “You can’t?”

“Nope.” Lance bent at the waist, caught Lotor under the arms, and hauled him to his feet. “Come on,” he said, bending his knees and levelling his shoulder with Lotor’s waist. “Get on, or I’ll have to use force.” 

Lotor looked far too pleased with himself as he draped himself fluidly over Lance’s shoulder, wriggling his ass a little to get into a more comfortable position.

Lance hated him.

“Well, that was easy,” Keith said.

“Too easy?” Lance asked, one last ditch attempt at escape.

“No,” Keith said. “Now, come on. Let’s get out of here before someone sees us.”

Lance nodded silently – with Lotor slung over his shoulder, he didn’t trust himself to speak – and Keith didn’t check that Lance was following him as he headed back towards the lions.

Lotor had somehow managed to work the back of Lance’s shirt up with his teeth, and was currently peppering kisses over the skin of Lance’s lower back. “You’re a demon,” Lance whispered, quietly enough that Keith wouldn’t hear, but Lotor definitely would. 

Said demon chuckled against Lance’s skin. “I’m not hearing you telling me to stop.”

Lance cast his eyes to the heavens, silently asking the lord for his divine help, but said nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh my gosh, guys, thank you SO MUCH for the amazing comments, you give me likes, and i love all of you!!
> 
> anyway, since i have somehow managed to invest both my heart and soul in this fic, if any of you have any requests, or headcanons you'd like to see written, fel free to drop by my tumblr and leave me a request. seriously. i love this ship and i need more.


	4. Chapter 4

Getting Lotor on to the ship and into a cell was easy, mostly because Lotor seemed more than enthusiastic about his being held captive. The difficult part was what came after, when the questions started coming in.

“Why didn’t you tell us Lotor had attacked you?” Shiro asked. “We could have done something to help.”

“How do you think Lotor’s ship was scrambling our communication tech?” Pidge asked, following Lance when he had stalked out of the room.

“Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it?” Hunk asked, after spending the best part of five minutes knocking on Lance’s bedroom door. “We can make some popcorn, put on some of that freaky Altean pop music, and let it all out.”

Lance had just about had enough of questions – every time he saw someone, they seemed to have something to ask him. He had been avoiding them all for days, afraid of what other questions they would come up with. It would only be a matter of time before Lance let it all out – he had never been able to lie to his friends; it was a curse.

But sitting in his room all day was driving him crazy.

It was Lance’s third day without human – or Altean – contact that he finally decided that he had had enough. He waited until midnight, when the ship’s night-time power-saving mode had switched itself on, to sneak out of his room.

Lance knew exactly where he was going – he didn’t have to think about how to get there. The ship’s prison spanned the fifty units next to the training area, each confinement-cube separated by four square blocks of Altean glass. Placing the prison next to the training area was an intimidation technique, Coran had explained, when Hunk has started to question whether it was really a good idea. Apparently, the prisoners would watch the best of the Altean warriors practice, and grow too afraid to attempt to escape.

The training area was strange at night, the looming shadows casting a sinister light over the empty room. Lance switched the light on and, for a second, was too surprised to move.

“Lance,” Keith said, his surprise halting him for long enough that the training robot landed a hit to his side. Keith quickly turned his attention back to the bot, and Lance watched as he quickly secured his victory.

Keith was strange when he fought, like living liquid – Lance sometimes wondered if Blue had made a mistake by not choosing Keith as her paladin, after all. The robot’s light dimmed as it returned to stand-by mode, and Keith turned to Lance.

“What are you doing here?” 

Lance shrugged. “What are you doing here?” 

“I asked you first.”

“Yeah, well, I think it’s fairly obvious why I’m here. What isn’t obvious is why you’re here, training in the middle of the night, in the dark, like a creep.”

“I’m not-” Keith grit his teeth, and sighed. “I like training at night. Problem?”

Lance shook his head. He vaguely realised that he was still standing outside the room, propping the door open with his hip; he stepped into the room. “Mind if I watch?”

“You’re not gonna join me?”

“Um,” Lance thought about it. He hadn’t really moved for the last three days, so he could probably use the exercise. He said, “Do you mind?”

Keith shook his head. “As long as you don’t get too upset when I beat you.”

Slowly, Lance let a devilish smirk cross his lips. “That’s exactly what I was going to say to you.”

Keith snorted. He took a step forwards, and as Lance took an equal step back, they began circling each other on the mat. “When have you ever been able to beat me?”

“There’s a first time for everything.” Lance closed the last few feet of distance with one long step. “Bring it on, pretty boy.”

Fighting with Keith was exhilarating. Fighting with Pidge was too easy, fighting with Shiro was too hard. Lance couldn’t even begin trying to fight with Hunk, for fear that he might actually hurt the guy. The only person who was even more fun to fight with than Keith was-

Lance shook his head – that was a bad train of thought that led to a number of stations that Lance just couldn’t afford to stop at right now.

Keith swung a kick at Lance’s head, and Lance ducked under it. Lance threw a punch at Keith jaw, and Keith caught it in his hand. They twisted each other’s arms, wrapped legs around hips and met strong punches with swift blocks.

When Keith lost his footing and crashed backwards on to the mat, Lance landed on top of him. He would have wasted no time in pinning Keith and declaring himself the winner, if he hadn’t seen Keith expression.

Dark eyes looked up at Lance with something like wonder, like confusion and understanding and everything in between all rolled up in one.

“You have bruises on your neck,” Keith said. Light fingertips skimmed over the marks, almost tenderly. Lance couldn’t help but think that that wasn’t right – soft touches, dark eyes, it was all wrong. “That wasn’t because of me, was it?”

Lance shook his head, “No.” Keith’s hand was still on his neck, following the curve. Keith’s fingertips were in Lance’s hair.

Lance felt his face heat up. “Keith, what are-?”

And just like that – just like Lance had feared – Keith’s lips were on him. It was barely a touch – Lance pulled back as soon as he realised what was going on – but it was too late. He felt like he had betrayed Lotor, betrayed himself. And when Keith looked up at him, eyes wide, not quite understanding, Lance felt as though he had betrayed him, too.

And then he remembered who else was in the room. Lance looked up, saw Lotor watching him, something like liquid rage churning behind his eyes. 

Lance pushed himself away from Keith – he didn’t think he would ever get far enough away.

“I should go,” Keith said, clearing his throat. He ducked his head, whether to hide the angry red shade of his cheeks or the confused shine gleaming over his eyes. 

“Keith,” Lance said, “I’m-”

“It’s fine,” Keith said. “I’ll, um, see you tomorrow?” 

Lance nodded, “Yeah.”

Keith nodded too, but said nothing. Lance watched him for a moment, watch his mouth open to say something, and close again, in silence. Keith met Lance’s eyes one last time before he turned on his heel; he let the training room door slam shut behind him.

“You don’t really notice it when you’re in the heat of battle,” Lotor said, “but wrestling is a very erotic sport.”

“Lo-”

“You didn’t kiss him back,” Lotor said. He looked confused by that. “Why?”

“Well, I wasn’t about to cheat on you. What kind of guy do you think I am?”

“If it weren’t for me being here,” Lotor said, “would you have kissed him?”

Lance was shaking his head before he could find the words to speak. “Of course I wouldn’t have. I-”

“Yes?” Lance had forgotten how much he hated Lotor when he was angry – his voice grew hard, his eyes seemed to glow a furious yellow. It made Lance feel two feet tall, and it made his chest ache. “You- _what,_ Lance?”

“I wouldn’t have kissed him back,” Lance said, “because I love you.”

There was silence for a long moment. An awkwardly long moment. A horrifyingly long moment. It was the first time either of them had said that – Lance didn’t even know if love was even a thing the Galra knew how to feel. Lance looked at Lotor, and Lotor looked right back.

Then, “If you don’t open this door in five seconds,” Lotor said, eyes as intense as they were beautiful, “I’m going to break it down.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guys!!!! only one chapter left to go!!!!!! ahhhhhhhh!!!!!!
> 
> also, i've been informed by several people that, like an idiot, i didn't actually put the url of my tumblr in the last chapters notes DDDD: so i'll put it here instead: http://thetrianglefandom.tumblr.com/


	5. Chapter 5

“Lance?”

Lance groaned. There was warmth beneath him – glorious warmth – and it called to him. It whispered sweet nothings in his ear, begged him to join it, to go back to sleep. Lance saw no reason to resist, so he burrowed deeper into the heat.

“Lance, I really think you should wake up now.”

“Thinking is for nerds,” Lance mumbled, pressing dry kisses to the warmth’s – to Lotor’s’ – smooth, purple chest.

“Lance, _seriously_.”

“Five more minutes.”

“ _I don’t know what that means_.”

“It means you should shut your pretty purple mouth and let me go back to sleep!”

But there was something telling Lance that going back to sleep wasn’t the best idea. There was something about his surroundings that unnerved him, something that made Lance’s hair stand on end, made it impossible to relax. It might have been the prison floor, digging into his hips with a pain like stepping on a Lego. It might have been Lotor, who had never tried to wake him up from his sleep before, and had certainly never been willing to admit to a flaw in his ‘Humanian’ before. It might even have been the giggling voices, that- wait.

Giggling voices.

Fuck.

Lance threw himself away from Lotor, rolling to the side and clutching the thin, prison blanket to his naked chest. “Nothing happened!”

He was met with six wide-eyed stares – two blue, two black, one brown and one green.

Double fuck.

Hunk said, “Lance, we just saw you kiss him.”

Lance glanced to Lotor and back again. “No you didn’t.”

"This..." Shiro said, "explains a lot, actually."

Hunk didn't look convinced, “But-”

“No no,” Lance cut him off. “You saw nothing. Go back to bed; this was all a dream.”

Hunk looked almost like he was going to buy it, until Pidge said, “So, what exactly am I looking at right now?”

With a shriek, Coran slapped his hands over Pidge’s eyes. “ _You_ shouldn’t be looking at anything, young lady! Lance, put some clothes on! We’ll have a proper discussion in the recreation room.” He left his hands over Pidge’s eyes as he steered her out of the room.

Lance watched as, one by one, the others followed him out. Keith was the last to leave, and as he walked through the door, he cast a long, hurt look back at Lance.

Lance groaned, and buried his face in his hands. “Why is this my life?”

Lotor lounged against the floor, leaning back on his elbows – he couldn’t have looked more perfect if he’d had a long cigarette pinched between two fingers. “The universe keeps it’s promises, Lance. I told you that.”

Lance groaned.

“It could have been worse.”

“They walked in on us cuddling in our sleep,” Lance said, dryly. “ _How_ could it have been worse?” 

“They could have killed you,” Lotor said with a shrug. “That’s what my father did to my first boyfriend.” 

Lance felt the blood drain out of his face. His voice was strange when he said, “He killed him?”

“Yup.” Lotor’s face had gone cold, and Lance knew – from months of dealing with Keith – what that meant; do not push the subject. But Lotor still seemed to notice Lance’s morbid curiosity, and said, “I’ll tell you about it some time. Not now.”

“I-” Lance looked at his hands, still clutched to his chest. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Lotor said. “I didn’t like him all that much, anyway.”

Lance’s jaw dropped, “You didn’t like your boyfriend?”

“Not like I like you.”

Lance blushed. 

“Or-” Lotor paused, eyebrows furrowing. “What was it you said to me, last night? I mean, I know what you meant. I just can’t remember the Humanian word.”

“Um.” If Lance’s head got any hotter, he’d be Keith. “Love?”

“Love,” Lotor repeated, as if trying the word out in his mouth. “Yeah, that’s it. It’s not very common where I’m from – we tend to mate for obligation, or convenience. But-” he shook his head, “it’s different with you. I think I love you, too.”

“I-” Lance couldn’t find his voice, “You do?” He cleared his throat, “I mean, of course you do. Obviously.” Lance stood up, silently hoping that none of the others were watching this on the security cameras as he let the blanket fall to the floor. “Do you want to come to the most awkward conversation in the history of the universe with me?”

Lotor smiled, “No way in hell.”

 

 

 

“Lance-”

“I was drugged.”

“No-”

“You were drugged?”

“You don’t have to make excuses,” Shiro said. “You’re not in trouble.”

Lance frowned. “I’m not?” 

“No.” Shiro sighed, and sat down across from Lance – Lance didn’t look up at him. “We just want to know some things.”

“I personally think we know too much already,” Pidge said. “There are some aspects of my friends’ lives that I just didn’t want to see.” 

Shiro frowned in her direction, and she muttered a quiet, “sorry” before sinking lower in her chair. Turning back to Lance, Shiro said, “We just want to know what’s going on. If this is serious, if it was just a one-time thing. What are we looking at, exactly?”

Lance felt his cheeks burn up – he hadn’t made eye contact with any of them since he had arrived at the recreation room, and he certainly wasn’t about to. “It’s, uh,” he tried – his voice was stronger than he would have expected. “It’s pretty serious, actually.” 

“How serious?”

“Well,” Lance picked at a tear in his jeans, “we’ve been seeing each other for the last few months, and-”

“Months?” On the other side of Lance’s sofa, Allura had almost fallen out of her seat. She looked from Lance to the others and back again. “How have you been hiding this for so long?” 

Lance flashed her a smirk, “I’m sneaky.” He met her eyes, and was surprised to see nothing but acceptance within them – some curiosity, some confusion, but no negativity. “I wanted to tell you, but- I didn’t know how you were going to react. I thought you might… hate me.” 

Shiro sighed. “Lance, I’m upset that you would think that of us. We’re you’re friends, and we’re going to support you, no matter what you do.” 

Lance smiled, “No matter what?” 

“ _Within reason_.” Shiro reached out to put a hand on Lance’s knee. “I just don’t want you to feel like you have to hide things from us, okay?”

“Well, in _that_ case,” Lance said, “I stole your eyeliner to draw a moustache on Keith when he was sleeping.”

Keith gasped, “That was you?”

“And I was the one that broke that cool lamp in Allura’s bathroom.”

“What were you doing in my bathroom?”

“Um." Lance paused. "Exploring?” 

Allura raised an eyebrow. “You were looking for my shampoo again, weren’t you.” 

“I wouldn't have to if you'd just tell me your secrets!”

"I already told you," Allura said, tossing a curl over her shoulder, "it's all me."

“Oh, please. That much volume can _not_ be natural.”

Allura cracked up, and when Lance saw her laughing, he was quick to join her - he couldn't help it; she was contagious. Shiro and Hunk and Pidge weren’t far behind, and when they collapsed, so did Coran and Keith. Lance grinned at them, watching them all smiling back, and felt all that tension slipping away.

“I’m going to let the eyeliner thing slide, for now,” Shiro said, biting back a smile. “But- _please_ stay out of Allura’s bathroom. It’s weird.”

Lance snorted, “You got it, daddy-o.”

“And never call me that again.”

Lance grinned, and when Hunk wrapped an arm around him to pull him against his side, Lance felt a massive weight lift away from his chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And, we're done!
> 
> Thank you so much to everyone who liked and subscribed and commented on this fic!! You inspire me to go on, and I love each and every one of you <3


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SURPRISE!! Because some people pointed out some problems with the last chapter, I made another one.

“But wait,” Hunk said, his arm tightening around Lance’s shoulders. “If you’ve been with Lotor for months, how come he was still attacking us all the time?”

Lance froze, “Um?” He gulped, “Well, uh.”

“You were using the battles for cover,” Shiro said, “weren’t you?”

“He promised me he wouldn’t hurt you!”

“So all those times you found a reason to board Lotor’s ship,” Pidge said, slowly, “it was so you could get jiggy with the prince.” 

Lance felt his cheeks blazing. He couldn’t use his words, so he just nodded.

“Even,” Keith’s voice had Lance’s head snapping up, “the day we apprehended him?”

Lance nodded, “Yeah.”

“And I-?” 

"Yup.

"And the bruises-"

Another nod, “Mm hm.”

Keith’s face scrunched up, and he said, “You're a terrible person.”

Lance buried his face in his hands. “I’m sorry, okay! I didn’t mean for it to go this far.”

“And that’s why the Galra never actually caused the ship any damage?” Coran asked. “I thought they were just distracting us! I’ve had the scanners searching for whatever they were trying to hide for weeks!” 

Lance couldn’t look at them, “I’m sorry.”

“You don’t need to be sorry,” Shiro said, “just- next time you decide to date the leader of the Galra empire, let us know? It would save us all a lot of time.”

Lance nodded, “Okay." 

“But, I still don’t understand something,” Pidge said. “You’re with Lotor, and he wasn’t really attacking us, so is he on our side? Do we still have to fight the Galra?”

“Yeah, we do,” Lance said. “We talked about it a lot, actually. He isn’t very well liked at the moment, and he can’t call a ceasefire and return all the planets Zarkon dominated to their rightful owners in one fell swoop. He’d be killed, or worse, and it wouldn’t change anything.” 

“So what is he planning to do?” Allura asked.

“Well, he’s been aiding the Mamorians – he was the one who suggested that Zarkon hire Thace in the first place. He doesn’t have an exact plan, but it’s basically to earn the trust of his people, slowly become less tyrannical, and hopefully return the universe to relative-peace!” 

For the second time in an hour, six people stared blankly back at him. Lance frowned, “Do I have something in my teeth.”

“No,” Shiro said. “I think we’re all just-" 

“I’m just trying to-” 

“Take it all in-”

“Lotor’s nice-”

"Lotor's part of the Blade of Mamora-"

“Lotor’s quiznacking Lance-”

“ _Pidge_!”

“What? He is!”

“Lance is leaving,” Shiro said, standing up and calling an end to the half-dazed mumblings of the others. “Lance is going to release Lotor from his cell, return him to the Galra ship, and find a way to see his boyfriend without getting us attacked every ten minutes.” He looked at Lance, “Understand?”

Lance nodded, and when Shiro raised an expectant eyebrow, Lance jumped up from the sofa and made his way back to Lotor.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M PROBABLY SO ANNOYING BUT I FOUND ANOTHER ISSUE AND I HAD TO FIX IT

Lance found Keith in the training room, the second time in as many days. When he opened the door, Keith froze – he didn’t turn to look at him.

“What do you want, Lance?” Keith asked. His hands were fists at his sides, shaking violently or nervously, Lance couldn’t tell. 

“Just to talk,” Lance said.

Keith turned, and his eyes were dark, emotionless and unyielding. “I’m busy. I don’t-”

“I don’t care if you don’t want to talk to me,” Lance said. “We’ve both got some things to say, and we’re gonna have to do this some time.” 

“No-”

“You kissed me,” Lance said. 

Keith shook his head, “I- yeah.”

“You like me?”

“No!” Keith brought his hands up to his face. “Maybe? I don’t know! I wanted to kiss you, so I did. You don’t want me, you’ll never want me, that’s fine.”

“You don’t sound like you think it’s fine,” Lance said. He took a step towards him, and Keith took two steps back. “I’m sorry, okay?”

“You don’t have to be sorry,” Keith said, lowering his hands. His face wasn’t wet, he wasn’t crying, he just looked… angry. “It’s my fault. I waited too long, and- you’re with someone else.”

“Keith,” Lance said. There must have been something in his voice, because Keith looked up. “I’m going to come over there,” Lance said, “because I want to hug you. Is that okay?”

Slowly, Keith nodded. “Yeah.”

And Lance crossed the gap between them, and took Keith into his arms. Keith was warm, damp with sweat, and for a moment, he stood still as a rod. But then, when Lance tucked Keith’s head under his chin, he felt hesitant arms wrap around his waist.

“I can’t- be with you, the way you want me to,” Lance said. “But we’re friends, and teammates, and nothing is ever going to change that, okay?" 

Keith nodded, “Okay.”

Neither of them made to move away from the other. They held each other for a long time, listening to each other breathe, feeling their hearts beating in time. It was only when Lance heard movement on the upper deck, the other paladins waking up, that he took a step back.

“We’re okay now, right?” Lance asked.

Keith nodded, “Yeah. We’re okay.” Then, slowly, he looked up at Lance with a smirk. “You’re not that hot, anyway.”

Lance barked a laugh, and shoved Keith back a step. “Lies. Utter lies.”

Keith shook his head, “No, I’m serious. I saw you in that blanket yesterday and, honestly? Not even that buff.”

“Like you’re one to talk! Hey, Keith, there’s this thing – it’s called _leg day_.” 

“Shut up.”

“No, you shut up.”

Keith smiled, and Lance smiled back.

“Come on,” Lance said, taking a step towards the door. “First person to find hunk gets best pick of the breakfast goo?”

A look of determination crossed Keith’s eyes, “You’re on.”


End file.
